Method of finishing and assembling grand pianos.



1. H. WILLIAMS & F. A. FOSS.

METHOD OF FINISHING AND ASSEMBLING GRAND PIANOS, APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10. 1916.

1,242,297. Patented Oct. 9,1917.

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l. H WILLIAMS & F. A. FOSS.

METHOD OF FlNlSHING AND ASSEMBLINOGRAND PIANOS.

APFLICATION FILED mu. I0. 1916.

1,242,297. Patented Oct. 9,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2-- Q 0 I Inven/iors James H WILZZ/ta ms, Frederick JiLFoas,

J. H. WILLIAMS & F. A. FOSS.

METHOD OF FINISHING AND ASSEMBLING GRAND PIANos.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. [0. I916.

Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

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. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. WILLIAMS, OF BROOKLINE, AND FREDERICK A. FGSS,,. OF IbT-IEYVWJ.ON, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO AMERICAN PIANO COMPANY, OF NEW YORK. N. Y., A

CORPORATION OF NEI/V J METHOD OF FINISHING AND ASSEIVIBLING GRAND PIANOS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES H. WILLIAMS and FREDERICK A. Foss, both citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively, of Brookline, county of Norfolk,

State of Massachusetts, and Newton, county of MiddleseX, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Methods of Finishing and Assembling Grand, Pianos,

ishing and: assembling grand pianos. Here-- tofore, in the manufacture-of grand pianos,

it has been, customary. to make up the.

wooden skeleton frame, then apply thelaminated case rim' thereto, and subsequently fit the sounding board, bridges, iron frame, strings,.and all of the other musical parts, into place within the rim. hen the parts are assembled in suchmanner, many diliiculties and inconveniences are met with which-increasethe labor andcost of manu- In the first place, there is to be considered the-fitting of the sounding board, whoseperimeter must be very carefully and accurately shaped to fit the internal SUI". face of thecase rim.- This calls for painstaking workmanship to accomplish the fitting of the sounding board. In connection with the fitting of the sounding board, the skeleton frame must be provided, adjacent the case rim, with recesses'to receive the sounding board ribs. This is also a delicate job, which requiresgreat care and accuracy. Thenthe iron frame must be applied to the sounding board, and in so doing, must be carefully lowered into the. space within the case rim, and secured to the sounding board and skeleton frame. Following, this operation, the strings and the remainder of the musical parts are assembled w1thmthe case rim..

It should here be remembered that the.

skeleton frame, andbefore the musical parts,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, .1917.

Application filed January 10,1916. Serial No. 71,149.

are assembled within the latter. It must, therefore, be evident that in. addition to the inconvenience of fitting the parts within the case rim,,there is also an ever-present danger of scratching or scarring the highly polished surfaces of thecase rim, within which all the foregoing assembling operations take place, the workman, meantime, being, obliged to lean over the edge of thecase rim.. i

In carrying out the methodwhich. forms the subject matter of our present invention, the order of finishing and assembling the parts is rearranged, and: all of thedifliculties and disadvantages attending the former method of making and. assembling the parts are doneaway with.

Our inventionwill be best understood. by reference to the following description, when taken, in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating the varioussteps in our preferred method of finishing and assemblinggrand pianos, while its scopewill be more particularly pointed out in the-appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure -1 is a perspective view of the-case rim of a grand piano;

Fig-. 2 is a perspective view of the case rim secured to what we term a factory frame or form;

Fig. is a perspective view of the skeleton frame, having attached thereto a pair of temporary bloc-ks forming supports to receive the key bed during the. operation of assembling the musical parts with the skeleton frame;

Fig. 4 is. a vertical, longitudinal section, partly broken away, of the skeleton frame having sounding board, iron frame, strings, andother musical parts, assembled ready for the application of the case rim; and.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar toFig. 4, showing the parts with the case rim in place.

Referring to the. drawings, and to the specific method of finishing and assembling. grand. pianos, which I have selected. for purposesof illustration, 6 is a caserim of usual laminated. construction, the: laminations, however, instead of being applied directly to the skeleton frame as usual, being steamed, bent and glued to each other upon a form which it is deemed unnecessary here to illustrate, it being understood, however, that after the laminations have been completed and the glue set, the rim is then removed from the form.

The next step is to complete the finishing of the case rim by the performance of the necessary wood working and finishing operations, including the staining, varnishing and rubbing, of the surfaces which are usually varnished, polished, or otherwise fin-- ished. During this operation, the case rim is mounted on a factory frame 7, whose perimeter is identical in outline with the skeleton frame to which the case rim is subsequently fitted. The factory frame is Securely fastened to the internal surface of the case rim by the use of suitable fastening means, herein a plurality of wood screws 8, which pass through the factory frame at intervals into, but only part way through, the case rim. The latter, when thus applied to the factory frame, can be filled, stained, varnished and polished, without danger of its becoming warped or twisted, and moreover, by the use of the factory frame, the stain and varnish can be excluded from that portion of the internal surface of the case rim which is to be subsequently glued to the perimeter of the skeleton frame.

In the meantime, a skeleton frame 9 can be built independently ofthe case rim. To this skeleton frame, I then secure a pair of temporary blocks 1010, by means of suitable fastenings, as for example screws 11, said blocks serving as a temporary support for the usual key bed 12, which is shown in Fig. 4.. The first step in assembling the musical parts upon the skeleton frame is to apply to the top of the latter a sounding board 13 of usual construction, which will be provided as usual on its under side with strengthening ribs, which must be fitted into the skeleton frame by cutting recesses in the rim of the latter. In applying the sounding board to the skeleton frame, however, the edge of the sounding board need not be accurately shaped at first. In fact, it is desirable to leave it somewhat over size. The second step is to apply to the margin of the sounding board the usual strip or molding 14, which also need not be accurately shaped when applied to the margin, but is preferably over size. Subsequently, the external surface or perimeter of these parts is shaped to size in one operation by the use of suitable tools. This can be done very conveniently by means of a vertical spindle planer, or molding machine, having a rotary cutter head, pro vided with a collar guided by a suitable templet or form secured to the bottom of 6 the skeleton frame.

If the skeleton frame is to be provided with a resonating chamber similar to that shown at 15, this can now be formed very convenient-1y by grooving the external sur- 7 face of the rim of the skeleton frame by the use of suitable tools or a machine, as for example a suitable form of molding machine having a rotary cutter head. The absence of the case rim enables this to be accomplished from the outer surface of the skeleton frame in an obvious manner.

The next step in assembling this unit is to apply to the sounding board and skeleton frame the usual iron frame 16, after which the strings 17 and other musical parts are fitted and adjusted, this being very conveniently accomplished because of the absence of the case rim.

Thus it will be seen that the manufacture of the skeleton frame unit and the case rim unit may be carried along simultaneously and independently of each other, and the two units when completed are by the final step united, by applying the finished case rim to the completed skeleton frame unit, this being preferably accomplished by gluing and clamping the parts together, so that when finished, the assembly appears in section, as shown in Fig. 5. It will of. course, be understood that prior to the assembling of the case rim with the skeleton frame, the temporary blocks 10 must be re-: moved from the latter, and that the factory frame 7 must be removed from the interior of the case rim.

, Thus it will be apparent that by the use of the described method, the many inconveniences and difliculties which have heretofore attended the assembling of a grand piano are eliminated with consequent saving in labor and cost of manufacture, and without danger of injury to the polished case rim during the assembling operations. There is also the advantage of being able to trim the skeleton frame, sounding board and molding, accurately at a single operation, and to cut the groove in the skeleton frame to form a resonating chamber.

It will, of course, be understood that some deviations may be made from the described method, without departing from the scope and spirit of our invention, as defined. by the following claims:

1. The method of making and assemblingi grand pianos which consists in makin Y the skeleton frame, applying the musica ele? ments thereto, and subsequently applying the case-rim directly to the edge of the skeleton frame.

2. The method of making and assembling grand pianos which consists in making the skeleton frame and the case-rim independ ently, applying the lfinish to theease-rim,

applying the musical elements to the skeleton frame, and subsequently applying-the caseaim: directly to th'e-edge of the skeleton frame.

3. The method of assembling grand pianos which consists in first assembling the skeleton frame, sounding board, iron-frame, strings, keyboard and complete action, and subsequently assembling the case-rim there- With.

4. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in making up the case-rim on a form, removing the caserim from said form and applying it to a second form, applying the finish to the caserim While on the second form, assembling the skeleton frame and sounding board, and subsequently removing the case-rim from the second form and assembling it with the previously assembled skeleton frame and sounding board.

5. The method of making and assembling grand pianos which consists in making up the case-rim and applying the finish to a portion only thereof leaving a portion of its. internal surface unfinished, assembling the skeleton frame and sounding board, and subsequently assembling the skeleton frame with the case-rim by attaching the unfinished internal surface of the latter to the skeleton frame.

6. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in attaching temporary key-board supporting means to the skeleton frame, assembling the musical parts with the skeleton frame, and subs quently removing the temporary key-board supporting means and attaching the case rim to the skeleton frame.

7 The method of making and assembling grand pianos which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board to the skeleton frame, and subsequently applying the case rim to and in contact with the perimeter of the skeleton frame and sounding board.

8. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board to the skeleton frame in an over-size condition, shaping and sizing the perimeter of the sounding board, and subsequently applying the case rim to the perimeter of the sounding board and skeleton frame.

9. The method of making and assembling grand pianos which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board to the skeleton frame, sizing the perimeter of the skeleton frame and sounding board in one operation, and subsequently applying the case rim to the perimeter of the sounding board and skeleton frame.

10. The method of making and assembling grandapianos which consistsin making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board to the skeleton. frame, applying a marginal strip to the' face of: the-sounding board,

and subsequently applying the case rim to the perimeter of the sounding board and skeleton: frame.

11. The method of making and assembling grand pianos *vvhichconsists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board to the skeleton frame, applying a marginal strip to the face of the sounding board, sizing the perimeter of strip, the sounding board and the skeleton frame in one operation, and subsequently applying the case rim to the perimeter of the sounding board and skeleton frame.

12. The method of making and assembling grand pianos which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board with its ribs to the skeleton frame, and subsequently applying the case rim to and in contact With the perimeter of the skeleton frame and sounding board.

13. The method of making and assembling grand pianos which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board to the skeleton frame, shaping and sizing the sounding board and skeleton frame by the use of a templet secured thereto, and subsequently applying the ease rim to the sounding board and skeleton frame.

14. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the musical elements thereto and subsequently gluing the case rim to the edge of the skeleton frame.

15. The method of making and assembling grand piano-s Which consists in making the skeleton frame and the case rim inclependently, applying the finish to the case rim, and subsequently gluing the case rim to the edge of the skeleton frame.

16. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in making the skeleton frame and the case rim independently and simultaneously, applying the finish to the case rim, and subsequently fastening the case rim to the ct ge of the skeleton frame.

17. The method of assembling grand pianos Which consists in first assembling the skeleton frame, sounding board, iron frame, strings, keyboard and complete action, and subsequently permanently fastening the case rim to the perimeter of the skeleton frame and sounding board.

18. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in making the skeleton frame, applying the sounding board thereto, applying a marginal strip to the face of the sounding board, sizing the sounding board and marginal strip, and subsequently applying the case rim to the margin of the sounding board, marginal strip and skeleton frame.

19. The method of making and assembling grand pianos Which consists in making the 5 skeleton frame and sounding board, sizing perimeter of the sounding board, assembling the sounding board and skeleton frame, and

subsequently applying the case rim to and in contact with the erimeter of the skeleton frame and previous y sized sounding board. 10

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification.

JAMES H. WILLIAMS. FREDERICK A. FOSS.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. 0. 

